Top 5 Albums of 2008.

1) Hold On Now, Youngster, Los Campesinos!
2008 was a big year for the Welsh septet. With the success of their two latest albums (Youngster, paired with the release of We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed just months later) and a fandom that has taken over the blog world, Los Campesinos! may be one of the biggest things to happen to indie pop since, well, ever.

Best Tracks: My Year In Lists, You! Me! Dancing!, We Exhale and Roll Our Eyes In Unison, We Are All Accelerated Readers.


2) Stay Positive, The Hold Steady
Continuing to write songs to live by, Craig Finn and the boys of the Hold Steady followed up last year’s best album, Boys and Girls in America, with an album with almost equal punch. From anthems (“Constructive Summer”) to life lessons (“Stay Positive”) to killer singles (“Sequestered in Memphis”) to genius story-telling (“One for the Cutters”), America’s favorite bar band can officially takes their place in rock music super-stardom.


3) Acid Tongue, Jenny Lewis.
Rilo Kiley front woman took a break from indie super group fame and headed a solo album that proved to be her most successful yet. On Acid Tongue, Lewis banks on the bare minimum of her famous vocals and twanging guitars that would make Dusty Springfield proud. Lewis shows a maturity on Acid Tongue that had been absent in her previous solo work. What results is honest, pure songwriting that is not only heartbreaking, but genius. Highlights include the manic, nine-minute long “The Next Messiah”, the album’s title track, and a bangin’ duet with Elvis Costello.


4) At Mount Zoomer, Wolf Parade
The year’s most underrated album of the year is also one of the best. On Zoomer, Spencer Krug and Dan Boeckner take a break from their respective busy music lives and reunite for an album full of insomnia, varied instrumentation, and some of the best songs of the year. The album itself is an experience, bearing resemblance to the pair’s much lauded Apologies to Queen Mary. Listening to At Mount Zoomer is entering a world of some of indie rock’s most acclaimed geniuses.

5) Vampire Weekend, Vampire Weekend
With an aura of afro-new wave and Ivy League lyrical musings, the Columbia quartet created the catchiest album of 2008. Vampire Weekend’s self-titled album let you do what music should do: listen without analyzing. The album has cool and fun vibe that reminds you of why you love music so much in the first place


Honorable Mentions:
The Rhumb Line, Ra Ra Riot.
Made In the Dark, Hot Chip
Fleet Foxes, Fleet Foxes
Accelerate, R.E.M